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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

This is for all you fantasy football guys out there. I have come up with a cheat sheet of my own. I am curious and would like your input. I have picked out between 4-8 players per round that I would like to target. Here is what I came up with (in order I would take them):

I would prefer to pick a RB in either 1st or 2nd round or both. There are about a fifteen solid RB's this year. I would prefer that two of them are in my starting lineup every week. If the cards don't do your way, pick Manning and then fill a RB with a 2nd round pick.

Here are some sleepers that I really like this year in order:1) Jon Kitna2) Matt Leinart3) Calvin Johnson4) Randy McMichael5) Anthony Gonzalez6) Darrell Jackson7) Troy Williamson

This should help out anyone who has questions going in to an upcoming draft. Let me know what you guys think.

Friday, July 13, 2007

As training camp draws near I got to thinking what I and all the other Viking fans are thinking out there with all these new faces. The Minnesota Vikings have many new faces all over the place not only on the field but coaches also. It got me thinking...

Which running back will surface as the #1 guy, and who will see there work load decrease??

Which wide receiver will step up and make plays and establish them self as an NFL caliber wide out??

Which coach will call the plays, and help our young quarterback progress??

Which offensive linemen will be able to fill that void on the right side of the ball??

Which Defensive end will be able to put pressure on the quarterback and help out our secondary??

Which safety will help out our team the best, weather it's on special teams or defense??

Which player will be able to brush off their injury from last year and be able to contribute to the team??

All these questions will be answered very shortly, it has been a long off season. Which has been very exciting and long at times, but all in all I think it will be worth it

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Minnesota Vikings have signed 6th round pick #176 overall LB Rufus Alexander. He becomes the 3rd of the Vikings' 8 selections from the 2007 NFL Draft to sign, joining 7th-round selections QB Tyler Thigpen and WR Chandler Williams.Alexander was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Oklahoma in 2006 and was a 2-time All-Big 12 selection. He was a teammate of 1st-round selection RB Adrian Peterson with the Sooners.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Today the Minnesota vikings signed there first rookie Tyler Thigpen out of coastal Carolina. Tyler was the only quarterback to start a game for coastal Carolina because the football program started in 2003 .While he was there in college for four years he had a 30-8 record and throwing 6,598 Yard and completing 55.3 of his passes.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

What if the Vikings called Brady Quinn's name instead of Peterson's. I found myself sitting in my chair waiting for the name to be called like a little kid at Christmas waiting to open that big gift under the tree. Then it came with the seventh selection...Adrian Peterson. I jumped up and started yelling at the top of my lungs.

So what if Mr. Goodell would of said Brady Quinn instead of AD. I for one would of turned the t.v. and went to work. Who would be the face of the franchise? What we be talking about on all theses blogs? But instead the Browns cans complain instead of us. we Vikings fans have went through enough turmoil in the past decade. I won't say anything for the sake of memories. But what if...

By the looks of it, the Vikings will have their hands full this year. However, we still have June 1 cuts, injuries, and several other factors that can lead to the success or defeat of a team throughout the year. Also, with the high level of parity in the league today, you never know who will be good the next year. Some teams will always be near the top of the league for the next few years due to their personel (Colts, Patriots, Chargers), and you could argue a few others but I will stick with those three for now.

I would bet the Vikings would finish around 6-10 or 7-9 for the year. Improvement will be made over last year....maybe not by the record but in all facets of the game. The defense will improve and the offense should see a vast improvement over last year's team that was led by a QB that is now in a nursing home somewhere.

After a long weekend of inactivity I'm ready to pick up where I left off with the defensive end positional analysis. If you haven't read them already I encourage you to at least check out the first four installments of this piece.

Today however we move on to the much anticipated first look at Brian Robison, a player many Vikings fans are, for better or worse, overwhelmingly excited about.

Brian Robison: #96/6'3"/259/Texas/#102 overall pick of 2007 Draft

College: Robison was brought to the University of Texas in 2002 and was redshirted his first year. In his second season (redshirt freshman year) he played in 13 games and started 3 at inside linebacker, registering 38 tackles and blocking four kicks. The next season he made the switch to the right defensive end position and showed that he could be used effectively there, though he was still obviously more of a run stopper, recording 48 tackles (14 for a loss) but only 1.5 sacks in 12 games.

His junior campaign of 2005 was clearly Robison's best year as he started all 12 games he played in, registering an impressive 58 tackles (15 for a loss) and seven sacks. His numbers regressed a bit during his senior season as he battled right knee and leg problems. He recorded 37 tackles (9 for loss) and 5.5 sacks in 12 games.

Combine: Robison was a combine warrior this past winter as he recorded event highs for the defensive end position in seven of the eight measured events. Placing second only once to top defensive end prospect Gaines Adams in the 40 yard dash, though he was quick to point out that his 10 yard dash was better than Adams'. He has a point as the 10 yard dash is clearly more relevant to the defensive end position than the 40.

The problem of course is that Robison has always been a bit of an athletic freak, yet never registered the mind blowing numbers you'd have expected from a player of his calibre. He's always been fast, always strong, and always a great leaper. The question of course is whether he can translate those numbers in the workouts into numbers of sacks and quarterback hurries consistently at the top level of professional football.

Forecast: As I stated just a couple sentences ago, there is absolutely no doubt in anyones mind as to the physical prowess of Brian Robison, he is an athletically gifted human being who has the potential to excel. Regretfully to say for Vikings fans I think their enthusiasm ought to be tempered with the reality that very few people around the NFL are predicting great things for Robison. This fact is obviously highlighted by his being taken in the fourth round, and he seems to lack the knowledge of how to compete against more talented offensive tackles or even the ability to translate his talents into turning the corner on what should be easy prey at the college level.

I'd predict that he plays in maybe a handful of games this season at defensive end this season, while he learns the nuances of how to play the position in the NFL from the vets. I doubt he'll record a sack and will probably see fewer than 50 snaps. Where he could make a mark is in a 3-4 scheme as a blitz linebacker, or on special teams where his enormous physical talents wont be impeded by 320 offensive linemen to whom he gives up around 50 pounds.

Given a couple of years of solid coaching (not that he didn't get that at college powerhouse Texas) and a staff that knows how to utilize him, he could become a very good player, I just don't think it'll ever be at defensive end. However, if he is used right he could become an explosive player in the mold of Adalius Thomas. And while some might consider that a stretch, lets remember that it took four years of development in Baltimore before Adalius really figured it out and became a dominant play-maker. Sure thats a stretch but he does have phenomenal talent and a creative coaching staff may just figure out his Rubik's Cube.